stort_mark

My love of canals started when I was at uni in Birmingham in the early 1980s, and I walked most of the BCN because I couldn't afford a boat. 

Several times I rented an Alvechurch boat with friends, but only in the winter months, and twice almost flooded the Lapworth flight. Many years passed living overseas - much of a lifetime - before I could buy my own boat, which I did in 2007. Endless engine problems and the difficulty in getting the boat fully fitted out restricted the cruising, but I still managed to get to the BCN Challenge every other year. That boat is now gone, probably recycled into Teslas by now.

We bought Cypress in 2019, a 45' tug with a Ruston & Hornsby 3VRH engine. Sounds lovely but I'm not technically-minded at all! She is currently based at Trinity Marina in Hinckley.

In the 1980s, everyone liked everyone else on the canal. No one wrote bad things about others, because most of us made mistakes most of the time. Some of us made mistakes pretty much all of the time. These days, we seem quick to judge, quick to criticise, quick to anger and quickest of all to write our judgement online. Happiness seems to be long gone for many.

There are some really lovely people on this forum, but God there are a lot of utter arseholes too. Just because the internet provides the opportunity to give an unsolicited opinion, there's nothing actually demanding it. I've seen higher horses here than at Badminton.